Cruise Ship Collides With Dock at Turkish Port

Celestyal Journey’s port call at Kusadasi, Turkey, started with a bang. The 55,877 gross-ton cruise ship hit the pier while attempting to dock on Monday, April 15, 2024. Thankfully, the damage wasn’t too serious.

Celestyal Journey Experiences Docking Mishap

As part of a series of 7-night voyages that Celestyal Journey has been offering in the Aegean Sea, the 1,260-passenger cruise ship has called on Kusadasi, Turkey, quite a few times. But despite having prior experience with the port, sometimes things still go wrong. 

On Monday, April 15, at around 12 p.m. local time, the cruise ship was in the process of making a routine arrival in the port. But this time, the crew onboard miscalculated the speed and approached the pier too quickly, causing the ship to hit the concrete structure with its bow bulb. Members of the 597-person crew tried to slow the approach by lowering the anchor, but were not able to prevent the collision. 

Thankfully, the crash only caused minimal damage to the ship and to the pier. The last time a ship crashed in a cruise port, which occurred in Baltimore on March 26, 2024, it resulted in significant damage and loss of life – so Celestyal Cruises is lucky this collision was minor, as it could have been much worse.

The 3-ship cruise line has not had to alter any of its itineraries because of the incident, nor has Kusadasi Cruise Port, which has 8 berths dedicated to large vessels and is the most popular cruise port in Turkey, had any negative impact on its operations.  

There were also no injuries reported by guests and crew onboard or from onlookers on the shore, which meant passengers were still able to enjoy their port day as planned. Kusadasi is a bucket-list destination for many, as it is the gateway to exploring Ephesus, one of the best-preserved ancient Greco-Roman cities in the world. 

Celestyal Journey To Continue Sailing The Aegean Sea 

Celestyal Journey, which entered service in 1994 and was acquired by Celestyal Cruises in 2023, will have many chances to redeem herself. She will call on Kusadasi many more times as she continues to offer 7-Night cruises in the Aegean Sea region until late October 2024. 

These sailings are unique, because rather than operating one cruise at a time, the round-trip sailings overlap, meaning guests embark and debark from various cruise ports while other sailings are still ongoing. For these cruises, guests are able to meet the ship in Kusadasi, Turkey; Heraklion, Crete Greece; Piraeus-Athens, Greece; or Thessaloniki, Greece.

The voyages are round-trip, and the ports that guests don’t select as their homeport will still be called upon, as well as Greece’s Santorini Island, Mykonos Island, and Milos Island. 

Read Also: From Mishaps to Maydays – Cruise Ship Accidents

Celestyal Journey’s final Aegean Sea cruise of the year will embark on October 19, 2024, which will be followed by a 14-day repositioning cruise beginning on October 26 from Piraeus-Athens, Greece, to Doha, Qatar. 

Once the ship arrives at its new homeport, it will offer 7-night, round-trip, sailings to Khalifa Bin Salman, Bahrain; Dubai, United Arab Emirates; Sir Bani Yas, United Arab Emirates; and Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.